Janice’s Journal: The Path Forward for CA tiered registry (SB 384)

In the most recent step of the legislative process, the Assembly’s Public Safety Committee approved the newest version of the Tiered Registry Bill (SB 384) yesterday. The bill is now moving forward to the full Assembly for a floor vote in a few days where it may pass and if so, then on to the Senate the same day for a concurrence vote.

The newest version of the Tiered Registry Bill was created behind closed doors and was made public only a few days ago. The new bill resembles a monster of Frankenstein its jumbled and sometimes contradictory provisions. The new bill helps some and hurts many others.

The new bill differs dramatically from previous versions of the Tiered Registry Bill (SB 421) in several ways. The most dramatic difference is the assignment of all individuals convicted of felony child pornography (CP) to Tier 3. Due to that difference, there has been a loud hue and cry from registrants and family members who would be affected both directly and indirectly.

Their cry is understandable for many reasons. First, empirical evidence clearly states that those convicted of a CP offense are very unlikely to re-offend. Second, empirical evidence shows that those convicted of a CP offense have not and will not commit a violent or contact offense.

Third, there is a fundamental lack of fairness, logic and rational thinking in requiring an individual convicted once of a non-contact, non-violent offense to register for the same period of time as an individual convicted of multiple violent offenses. For example, a 16-year-old girl who sent nude selfies to her fellow high school students will be required to register for the same period of time as Phil Garrido who sexually assaulted his victim for 18 years. Finally, the expectations of those convicted of CP offenses and their loved ones were not dashed, but were annihilated by the new tier assignment.

During the short time available between the public release and the committee’s consideration of the bill, ACSOL lobbied strongly to revise downward (from Tier 3 to Tier 1) felony CP offenses. Our lobbying efforts failed because the skids of that bill were greased before it became public. That is, it was learned that an agreement had already been reached between members of the legislature and law enforcement, with prompting from the Governor, to move forward the current version of the bill.

The question now is what can we do? What is the path forward?

As difficult as it is, we need to wait. We need to wait to see if the legislature passes SB 384 and if the Governor signs the bill into law. We will know that outcome no later than October 15.

If the bill does become law, there are at least two ways to challenge it – future legislation and litigation. Future legislation is possible because the law would not take effect until January 2021. During the 4-year period between its passage and its effective date, new legislation could be passed that moves felony CP offenses from Tier 3 to Tier 1.

Future litigation is possible only after the law takes effect and could be challenged on many grounds including the equal protection clause of the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. There may be additional ways to challenge SB 384 and perhaps the entire registry in the future if courts continue to issue favorable decisions, such as Does v. Snyder, Commonwealth v. Muniz and Millard v. Rankin.

In order to succeed on any level, we must Show Up, Stand Up and Speak Up in increasing numbers. Larger numbers of volunteers will be needed to attend legislative hearings, to serve as plaintiffs and to make financial contributions. With that support, we can and will succeed!

I bet she was. I’m fairly confident this bill will actually result in less people being able to get off then now. The CoR is gone and about half the people who currently qualify for it are in T1 & T2. So they basically reduced the number of people that can actually get off. Of course I don’t have actual data to back this up. But I’m fairly confident the final analysis will probably confirm this somewhat.

This helps me if all goes well. If all goes well, it will be the first time. But there are plenty of people who it will not help and we cannot leave them behind. No one should be celebrating today. However, my thanks to all those who pushed hard for the best we could do.

13) Provides that effective January 1, 2022, registrants of specified sex offenses under current
law and tier three registrants, excluding juvenile offenders, will be posted on a public Web
site with full address. All other tier two registrants and those convicted of committing or
attempting to commit annoying or molesting a minor, excluding juvenile offenders, will be
posted on the public Web site with the ZIP Code for the registered address displayed.

annoying a minor is a Tier 1 offense but will not be on public website?

what tier does a misdemanor 311.11 fall into. Mine is a wobbler and i have been holding off having it reduced because i was told you and only get a COR if you have a felony. So I was going to go for the COR and then go for the reduction to a misdemeanor

All C.P. is tier 3 with no chance of cor. If you get one, it will be tossed in 2021 if law stands. In Ca. You are basically fucked, misdomeanor, felony, whatever. I have felony 311.1a that would have been misdomeanor If I had been convicted 6 months earlier. Now I can get misdomeanor reduction, but with new bill will still be on list, tier 3 for life, and FUCKED in this sorry state.

Current law…Felony: publicly listed. Misdemeanor: not listed. While his conviction is a felony, he would be listed publicly. I was convicted in 2013 (felony) and it took roughly 24 months before I showed up on the site. At that time I was 2 years into a 3 year probation sentence. Shortly after I hired recordgone to petition the court for early termination of probation. It was granted so I ended up serving about 30 of the 36 month probation sentence. At the same time the early termination was granted I was granted a reduction to a misdemeanor, and expungement (accepted plea deal before Jan 1, 2014). Waited 3 months for the DOJ to remove me from ML website because misdemeanor possession is not supposed to be publicly listed. Who knows how long it would have taken them to remove me without recordgone sending a letter to the DOJ to update their records and remove me from the site. Your husband won’t be able to have his possession convicted expunged (after Jan 1 2014) but unless something has changed since 2013 possession is a wobbler and can be reduced. Maybe you can get it reduced before DOJ gets him published on ML site? This might be possible he petitions for and is granted early termination of probation. In order for this to happen he has to be at least 1/2 way done with probation and paid all fines, finishing counseling, etc. By law 1/2 of probation has to be completed but my original attorney told me to not try until I had completed 2/3. I used recordgone for all my post conviction legal stuff.

Thank you for the reply. He got sentenced to 2 year jail time, no probation. I checked RecordGone’s website, and it seems like a felony conviction of 311.11 could be reduced in CA. The only thing is that he was convicted in the military court, and he is serving his sentence in military jail in CA now. I will probably call recordgone to see if they have any ideas.

With it being a military conviction, not a county/state thing, things could be way different when it comes to post conviction relief. A call into recordgone is a good idea. 17b (a county/state thing) motions & petitions for early termination of probation might not be available to him unless he was convicted by the state but serving his time in a military jail. Any idea how much probation time he is going to have to serve (3 years, 5 years)?

Sorry…I just realized you mentioned no probation in your post. He won’t have to register until he is released from jail. No probation means that there would be no reason to have to wait to pursue a 17b reduction…assuming it’s an option for him as maybe he was convicted by a military court????? A quick reduction from a felony to a misdemeanor means there is a good chance that he would never show up on ML site. Can take the DOJ a while to finally get somebody listed. They must really be behind on new entries, updates, etc because it took them 2 years to list me. If granted a reduction, make sure to inform the DOJ, in writing, of the reduction so they grant him an exclusion to public listing. This way he doesn’t end up on ML site two years after the first time he registered even though it was reduced. I could see that happening if they weren’t notified in writing about the reduction. Hopefully your husband qualifies for a 17b.

Thank you for the reply. I checked, 17b only applies if he was convicted in the state court and had no jail sentence. The military court is totally different. I realized now that if he was convicted in state court, he would probably get no jail time and will be able to reduce it to a misdemeanor. What a joke, he deployed 4 times for this country, yet he is punished much more for the same crime.
This is the first time I post here, and I am really grateful that people here actually care about each other. The whole registry is unconstitutional, and I wish it will be abolished altogether.

Concerned Wife ~ Here is a cut and paste of the new law: If I am reading this correctly, he would be a Tier 1 (not publicized ) He falls into the Felony Offense described in (c) but f it was not a serious or violent felony as described in subdivision (c) of Section 667.5 or subdivision (c) of Section 1192.7, he would still be a Tier 1. Read both Section 667.5 (c) and Section 1192.7 (c) to see if he falls in any of those categories. If he went to jail, I kind of doubt he would.

(c) The following persons shall register:
Every person who, since July 1, 1944, has been or is hereafter convicted in any court in this state or in any federal or military court of a violation of Section 187 committed in the perpetration, or an attempt to perpetrate, rape or any act punishable under Section 286, 288, 288a, or 289, Section 207 or 209 committed with intent to violate Section 261, 286, 288, 288a, or 289, Section 220, except assault to commit mayhem, subdivision (b) or (c) of Section 236.1, Section 243.4, Section 261, paragraph (1) of subdivision (a) of Section 262 involving the use of force or violence for which the person is sentenced to the state prison, Section 264.1, 266, or 266c, subdivision (b) of Section 266h, subdivision (b) of Section 266i, Section 266j, 267, 269, 285, 286, 288, 288a, 288.3, 288.4, 288.5, 288.7, 289, or 311.1, subdivision (b), (c), or (d) of Section 311.2, Section 311.3, 311.4, 311.10, 311.11, or 647.6, former Section 647a, subdivision (c) of Section 653f, subdivision 1 or 2 of Section 314, any offense involving lewd or lascivious conduct under Section 272, or any felony violation of Section 288.2; any statutory predecessor that includes all elements of one of the offenses described in this subdivision; or any person who since that date has been or is hereafter convicted of the attempt or conspiracy to commit any of the offenses described in this subdivision.
(d) A person described in subdivision (c), or who is otherwise required to register pursuant to the Act shall register for 10 years, 20 years, or life, following a conviction and release from incarceration, placement, commitment, or release on probation or other supervision, as follows:
(1) (A) A tier one offender is subject to registration for a minimum of 10 years. A person is a tier one offender if the person is required to register for conviction of a misdemeanor described in subdivision (c), or for conviction of a felony described in subdivision (c) that was not a serious or violent felony as described in subdivision (c) of Section 667.5 or subdivision (c) of Section 1192.7.

Thanks for the reply. I checked both Section 667.5 (c) and Section 1192.7 (c) and he does not fall into any of those. His conviction was only for possession of child porn.
Didn’t Janice just say that felony child porn is now moved to Tier 3 for the new bill??

I just read the entire bill, is seems that a felony violation of 311.11 will be tier 2.
(2) (A) A tier two offender is subject to registration for a minimum of 20 years. A person is a tier two offender if the person was convicted of an offense described in subdivision (c) that is also described in subdivision (c) of Section 667.5 or subdivision (c) of Section 1192.7, or that is a felony offense described in subdivision (a) or (d) of Section 243.4, Section 285, subdivision (f), (g), (h), or (i) of Section 286, subdivision (c) of Section 288, subdivision (f), (g), (h), or (i) of Section 288a, subdivision (b), (d), or (e) of Section 289, a felony violation of Section 311.1, a felony violation of Section 311.11, Section 647.6 if it is a second or subsequent conviction for that offense that was brought and tried separately, or subdivision (c) of Section 653f.

Yeah. It’s pretty maddening. One would think Tier 3 would be reserved for the worst of the worst. People that have demonstrated through their repeat actions that they do want to (or cannot) be rehabbed. But the bulk of Tier 3 will seem to be comprised mainly of people with what just a few months ago were tier 1 offenses: people with non-contact crimes and possession. It’s because of this and the fact that they won’t be evaluating individuals when placing them into tiers (like really evaluating them and not just a black and white reading of their convicted penal codes), that I think this bill will face a lot of opposition in courts before and after it becomes active (if it even reaches that point). Hopefully SCOTUS will make this bill moot in the next year or two.

The whole registry is unconstitutional, and I wish it will be abolished altogether.
I have not seen the court declare any of the tiered systems in other states moot. The CA tiered system is just unreasonable. As you said, tier 3 should be reserved for the dangerous predators only.

Not quite sure where I stand with the current Bill; as I have stated before, one way or the other, I will be removed from this registry. I am also a Christian who has understood my own short comings. To be clear, I am in support of those who are CP’s that fall under the Tier 3. category. It would be redundant for me to repeat the obvious, but murderers are trusted more than us. I believe in the Lord, and I prayed and the Lord listened. I encourage all of you to accept and trust in the Lord Jesus, he does answer prayers, but more than that, he loves and saves us from our sins, and most likely, sin brought us here. Although I believe that I will be placed in Tier 1. I will continue to pray for the less fortunate and fight for all to have the option to be removed. In general, this law is consistent with cruel and unusual punishment.

Well, looks like I’ll be classified as Tier 3. Got an old late 90’s conviction of a 288(a) and 243.4(a).
It’s the 243.4(a) that did it.

I really didn’t have much hope in this bill anyhow. It’s too bad nothing can be done about people in my shoes… a husband, a father, a “playing doctors” crime committed decades ago, with no other legal troubles since.

My husband was convicted 2008 he was rerelease 2013 he is considered low risk & should be off parole May 2018 but we are praying for a early release from being on parole. What tier would he be considered? He been working since he been out & married & has not been back to jail for the same offense.

@Adrian H – what is your conviction for a felony or misdemeanor? If it was for a felony you should look at trying to get it reduced and then dismissed Via 12:03 .4 Which with then put you in tier one I believe

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